Mourinho vows to introduce an Academy player every season

MANCHESTER UNITED boss Jose Mourinho says he aims to give a debut to at least one Academy player every season.

United have included a player from their Academy in every match-day squad since October 1937.

“I don’t want to be the one that breaks that and I think the next United manager – it doesn’t matter when he comes – should also try not to break it,” Mourinho told the Mirror.

“It is more difficult now than it was before, but I think it is good. I feel it like a way to keep a certain identity of the club. To keep that identity means, basically, we should bring a new player from the academy every season.

“You can bring someone to play 10 minutes, then the player disappears and then you can say, ‘Oh, 40 players have their debut with me’. But none of them are important. When I say 'bring', I mean (for them) to stay.”

Marcus Rashford and Jesse Lingard are the most notable Academy graduates in the current squad, although Rashford was given his debut (and a run of games) by Louis van Gaal, while Lingard first appeared under Sir Alex Ferguson.

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